Slip covers



Nov. 14, 1961 w. 1. HONEYMAN 3,008,154

SLIP COVERS Filed April 17, 1959 5 W 1'. HONEY/1m United States Patent P 3,993,154 SLIP C(PVERS William I. Honeyrnan, Dorval, Quebec, Canada, assignor to Auto Fabric Products Company Limited, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Filed Apr. 17, 1959, Ser. No. 807,211 Claims. (Cl. 5--339) This invention relates to improvements in slip covers for automobile seats and the like. However, it is also applicable as a slip cover for articles of furniture where it is desirable to cover a portion thereof and to draw marginal portions of the slip cover across one face of the furniture or like article after enclosing other surfaces of said article with the slip cover.

A particular object of this invention is to provide a slip cover of plastic or like flexible covering material having a marginal tubular edge and an endless flexible cable threaded therethrough with openings along the tubular edge at predetermined intervals and a D-ring arranged within each of said openings and depending therefrom whereby exposed portions of the endless cable in the openings along the tubular edge may be passed through the D-ring before being extended to provide an anchoring loop characterized in that lateral tension applied to the extended loop of the cable will be directed against the inner surface of the D-ring instead of applying a tearing stress at the marginal portions of the tubular edge defining the said opening.

The above and other objects and the characteristic features of this invention will be understood more readily from the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the rear of a seat showing a slip cover embodying this invention thereabout.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary view illustrating a portion of a slip cover which does not embody the features of this invention.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary view of a similar portion of a slip cover shown in FIG. 2 but embodying this invention.

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3 but illustrating portions in different positions to that shown in FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line 55 of FIG. 4.

Referring more particularly to FIGS. 1, 3, 4 and 5 of the drawings, 5 designates a slip cover of plastic, fabric or like flexible material. The marginal portions of the slip cover are folded over to provide a hem 6 which is stitched, as indicated at 7, inwardly of the folded edge to provide a marginal tube 8 through which a tensioning cable or cord 9 is threaded as an endless cable. The cable 9 may be elastic so as to be stretchably extensible through spaced openings 10 in the bottom wall of the marginal tube 8.

A tab 12 formed of a strip of plastic or like material folded upon itself is secured between the folded hem 6 by said stitching 7 to provide a relatively short tube 14 in each of the openings 10. A D-shaped ring 15 is attached to the tab 12 with its straight section extending through the tube 14 of said tab so that the curved section of the ring depends from said tab 12 through the opening 10 in said tube 8. Preferably the tab 12 has inwardly offset marginal portions 16 at each side of the tube portion 14 so that the D-ring 15 will be spaced inwardly from opposing offset portions 17 defining the side margins of said opening 10. The complementary offsets 16 and 17 afford clearance for the extension of the cable 9 through opening 10.

In order to extend the cable it is inserted through the D-ring 15 so that an outward pull on the cable 15 causes portions of the cable adjacent the ofiset portions 17 to extend substantially along the plane of the tube 8 until 3,608,154 Patented Nov. 14, 1961 "ice it is enabled to bear against the inner surface of the curved section of the D-ring before being extended at a substantially sharp angle to the plane of tube 8. In this manner the outwardly directed tension is exerted on the curved section of the D-ring which in turn exerts an evenly distributed tension across the width of tab 12 by reason of the flat engagement of straight section of said D-ring.

As will be seen, particularly in FIG. 4 the outward tension of the cable 15 through the opening 10 exerts a minimum of outward tearing stresses on the adjacent portions of the tube 8. The advantage of this arrangement may be more fully appreciated with reference to FIG. 2 which illustrates a similar type of slip cover 5 provided with a tubular marginal edge 8 having an opening 10 and a cable 9 threaded through the tube so as to be extended outwardly through said opening but without the benefit of a D-ring through which the cable 9 may be passed. As will be seen in FIG. 2 outward extension of cable 9 exerts tearing stresses on the marginal portions of tube 8 adjacent opposite ends of the opening 10.

A hook 20 is preferably attached to the extended portion of cable 9. The hook 20 may be secured at its other end to another extended portion of the cable or to an anchoring medium (not shown) to cause the slip cover to be snugly fitted about the section of a seat to which the cover is applied.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. In a slip cover of plastic and the like flexible material provided with a tubular marginal edge and an endless cable threaded through said tubular edge, said tubular edge being also provided with openings at predetermined intervals and a D-ring secured within each of said openings to depend therefrom characterized in that a portion of said cable extending across said opening is passed through said D-ring to bear against inner surface portions of said ring before being extended outwardly under tension from said opening.

2. A slip cover as set forth in claim 1, including tabs each formed from a strip plastic and like flexible material folded upon itself to form a loop, each of said tabs being secured within said tubular marginal edge adjacent an opening with the said loop substantially aligned with the tubular marginal edge of the slip cover at the mouth of said opening and said D-ring having its straight section extending through the loop and flatly engaging the inner lower surface of said loop.

3. A slip cover as set forth in claim 2 in which the side margins of said loop are inwardly offset so as to be substantially spaced from those portions of the tubular edge defining the ends of the opening.

4. A slip cover as set forth in claim 1, in which said cable is resiliently stretchable for elongation.

5. In a slip cover provided with a tubular edge and a cable threaded through said tubular edge, said tubular edge being also provided with at least. one opening, a ring secured within said opening to depend therefrom, characterized in that a portion of said cable extending across said opening is passed through said ring to bear against inner surface portions of said ring before being extended outwardly under tension from said opening.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,209,586 Jensen Dec. 19, 1916 1,544,141 Eddins June 30, 1925 1,996,575 Frey et al Apr. 2, 1935 2,150,486 Bjornson Mar. 14, 1939 2,652,886 Richards Sept. 22, 1953 

